The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Delosperma plant, botanically known as Delosperma cooperi ‘DE18-162’ and will be referred to hereinafter by its cultivar name, ‘DE18-162’. The new cultivar of Delosperma is an herbaceous perennial grown for container and landscape use.
The new cultivar was derived from a controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Ichinimiya-City, Aichi-Pref, Japan. The overall purpose of the breeding program was to develop new cultivars of Delosperma plants with low-growing and well-spreading growth habits combined with long flowering periods and a unique range of flower colors.
‘DE18-162’ arose from a crosses made by the Inventor between unnamed and unpatented proprietary plants of Delosperma cooperi from his breeding program. Seeds were pooled from the crosses and therefore the exact parentage is unknown. ‘DE18-162’ was selected in 2015 as a single unique plant amongst the resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by softwood cuttings in 2015 by the Inventor in Ichinimiya-City, Aichi-Pref, Japan. Propagation by softwood cuttings has shown that the unique features of the new cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.